US Secretary of State Antony Blinken used a United Nations session on global food security to hit at Russia for disrupting the flow of food with its war on Ukraine and its withdrawal from the international grain deal. “Every member of this council, every member of the United Nations, should tell Moscow, ‘Enough,’” Blinken told the Security Council. “Enough using the Black Sea as blackmail. Enough treating the world’s vulnerable people as leverage.”
Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, countered later in the debate, saying of the US: “All that drives you is the desire to punish Russia in your pipe dreams of dealing it a strategic defeat.”
The European Union backed more sanctions on Belarus with further export bans for its support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said the Baltic nations and Poland should be prepared to shut the border with Belarus amid security warnings over the presence of Russian mercenaries there.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius reiterated that it’s too early to make a decision on supplying Ukraine with the Taurus cruise missiles it has requested. Germany is focusing for now on areas including air defense and armored vehicles, Pistorius told reporters during a troop visit in Bavaria.
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Markets
Russia may offer cheaper grain exports to countries that have not imposed sanctions, the latest sign that Moscow is using the nation’s food superpower status as a political tool. The government could get the ability to lower duties on commodities exports including grain and fertilizers to “friendly” countries, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said.
